Eleazer Oswald

Eleazer Oswald (2 February 1750-30 September 1795) was a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Continental Army's artillery before serving under the First French Republic from 1792 to 1795. Oswald distinguished himself at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 during the American Revolutionary War, and he proceeded to fight in the French Revolutionary Wars for France; he would ultimately return home to New York City, where he died in 1795.

Biography
Eleazer Oswald was born on 2 February 1750 in Falmouth, Cornwall in the West Country of England, but he moved to the Thirteen Colonies in 1770. Oswald became involved with the patriot cause just before the start of the American Revolutionary War while working as a printer's apprentice in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Oswald joined the Continental Army in 1775. Oswald was captured during Benedict Arnold's invasion of Canada in the winter of 1775, but he would be released in a prisoner exchange and was promptly promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel upon his release in January 1777. Oswald fought at the Battle of Ridgefield in 1777, with his three-gun battery fighting against a bayonet charge by the British Army. Oswald was promoted to serve as Charles Lee's artillery officer at the Battle of Monmouth on 28 June 1778, and his cannon forced Colonel John Graves Simcoe's Tory Queen's Rangers to retreat; Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Monckton was killed by grapeshot from Oswald's cannon. Oswald left the army after Monmouth, angry that he was not promoted, and in 1783 he began the Price Current, the first business newspaper in the United States. Oswald was a critic of the Federalist Party, and 24 anti-Federalist publications were released from 1787 to 1788, nearly leading to a duel with Alexander Hamilton in 1792.

On 18 September 1792, Oswald arrived in France during the French Revolutionary Wars and was given the rank of Colonel by Charles-Francois Dumouriez, fighting at the Battle of Jemappes at the head of a regiment of cannon, which inflicted the majority of the losses suffered by the Austrian Empire at that battle. From 20 February to 8 June 1793, Oswald spied on Great Britain in Ireland, using his American nationality to evade suspicion on his activities. He would later request reimbursement for his expenses during his career as a spy, and Thomas Paine later wrote to the French on Oswald, saying that his goal was to repay France for its support of America during the American Revolutionary War. Oswald died back in New York City in 1795.